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Effective (Body (Language (: Henry Reyenga
Effective (Body (Language (: Henry Reyenga
Henry Reyenga
Body(Language(Is(An(Acquired(
Skill(
Born out of practice and confidence
Connected to your personality
Must push yourself to exceed your comfort
level
Effective(Body(Language(in(
Preaching((Art(Wallis)(
Center Point Road Church, Senior Pastor
Art Wallis gives some effective tips on body
language
Daniel(Akin’s(Class(Notes(
Speaking
Speaking (Grammar, eyes, diction)
“How Do I Speak?”
(some general observations/some helpful suggestions)
“First, you must learn to go up to the pulpit. Second, you must know that you should stay there for
a time. Third, you must learn to get down again.”
(Martin Luther, Table Talk, pg. 393)
“Delivery should be the spontaneous product of the speaker’s peculiar personality, as acted by the
subject which now fills his mind and heart.... Delivery does not consist merely, or even chiefly, in
vocalization and gesticulation, but it implies that one is possessed with the subject, that he is
completely in sympathy with it and fully alive to its importance, that he is not repeating
remembered words but setting free the thoughts shut up in his mind. Even acting is good only in
proportion to the actor’s identification with the person represented-he must really think and
really feel what he is saying. The speaker is not undertaking to represent another person, to
appropriate another’s thoughts and feelings, but aims simply to be himself, to speak what his own
mind has produced.”
(Broadus, Sermons, pgs. 264-265)
“Let every man, called of God to preach the Word, be as his Maker has fashioned him.... The good
and the evil in men of eminence are both of them mischievous when they become objects of servile
imitation; the good when slavishly copied is exaggerated into formality, and the evil becomes
wholly intolerable. If each teacher of others went himself to the school of our one only Master,
a thousand errors might be avoided.”
(C.H. Spurgeon, C.H. Spurgeon Autobiography Volume 1:
The Early Years, 1834-1859, rev. ed. [reprint, Edinburgh:
Banner of Truth, 1962], pg. 234)
“Be natural; forget yourself; be absorbed in what you are doing and in the realization of the
presence of God, and in the glory and the greatness of the Truth that you are preaching ... that you
forget yourself completely.... Self is the greatest enemy of the preacher, more so than in the case
of any other man in society. And the only way to deal with self is to be so taken up with, and so
enraptured by the glory of what you are doing, that you forget yourself altogether.”
(Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Preaching, pg. 264)
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“A theology which does not take fire, I maintain, is a defective theology; or at least the man's
understanding of it is defective. Preaching is theology coming through a man who is on fire. A
true understanding and experience of the Truth must lead to this. I say again that a man who can speak
about these things dispassionately has no right whatsoever to be in a pulpit; and should never be allowed
to enter one.”
(Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Preaching, pg. 97)
“When I have thought of the preaching of certain good men, I have wondered, not that the congregation was
so small, but that it was so large. The people who listen to them ought to excel in the virtue of patience, for
they have grand opportunities of exercising it. Some sermons and prayers lend a color of support to the
theory of Dr. William Hammond, that the brain is not absolutely essential to life. Brethren,...you will,
none of you, covet earnestly the least gifts, and the dullest mannerisms, for you can obtain them
without the exertion of the will.... about to discharge your ministry, not with the lifeless method of an
automaton, but with the freshness and power which will render your ministry largely effectual for
its sacred purposes.”
(C.H. Spurgeon, An All-Around Ministry [reprint,
Edinburgh: Banner of Truth, 1960], pgs. 316-317)
“There is no such animal, in and out of captivity, as a born public speaker. In those periods of history when
public speaking was a refined art that demanded close attention to the laws of rhetoric and the niceties of
delivery, it was even more difficult to be born a public speaker. Now we think of public speaking
as a kind of enlarged conversation. Gone forever is the old grandiloquent style and stentorial voice. What
we like to hear at our dinner meetings, in our church services, on our TV sets and radios, is straightforward
speech, conceived in common sense and dedicated to the proposition that we like speakers to talk with,
and not at, us.”
(Dale Carnegie)
“The difference between the right word and almost the right word is the difference between lightning
and the lightning bug.”
(Charles Koller, pg. 113)
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“In delivery, next to the voice in effectiveness is the countenance: and this is ruled over by the eyes.”
(Cicero, quoted in Koller, pg. 55)
“The expressive power of the human eye is so great that it determines, in a manner, the expression of
the whole countenance.”
(Koller, pg 35)
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• Remember: That duck is paddling furiously underneath the water. Remember this:
Nobody looks as nervous as they feel. Remind yourself that your nerves are the
driving force behind the energy in your presentation-but that doesn’t mean anyone has
to see them.
• Talk to a friend at first. For the first two or three minutes of your talk, pick out the
friendliest face in the crowd, and talk to that person. Having a one-on-one
conversation is a lot easier than speaking to a group, and this is a good way to relax
yourself.
(adapted from How to Be a Better Communicator, by Sandy
McMillan [Industrial Society]).
1. Drawing a blank
• Try a little humor.
• Consider “shirt-tailing.” Here’s how it works:
♦ Simply repeat the last part of the last sentence you delivered. Then add onto it
with a further thought. Next, repeat the last part of that sentence and add to it.
Keep on going in this manner as long as necessary.
♦ Next, go on.
• Practice the techniques. A little practice will help you think of sensible
sentences you can use if you need them. And knowing you can resort to “shirt-
tailing” also will ease your mind and free it from nervous thoughts such as: “I’ve
lost my place. What do I do now?”
2. Annoying Speech Filters
• Uncover the root causes. When “ah’s” and “um’s” slip into your
communication, it often signals one of the following: You’re in a situation where
you’re uncomfortable with the topic, the audience, the situation or yourself.
♦ Topic: Before you speak, make sure you’re totally comfortable with what
you need or plan to say. Do what all the presentation experts suggest.
Examples: Rehearse before colleagues who will candidly assess what you
say. Tape your speech and listen for possible glitches. Videotape it and
watch for distracting mannerisms. Prepare answers to questions audience
members might ask.
♦ Audience: Consider what it is about the audience that’s causing concern.
Then deal with whatever it is through the rational, logical side of your brain.
♦ Situation: Recall your most-and least successful presentations. Sort out
the similarities and differences between the two. Then gradually change the least
successful aspects of the previous presentations into ones more like those where
you did better.
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♦ Yourself: Examine what’s happening to cause this. Do you feel “inferior” to
the task, the subject, or the audience? Again, you’ll need to persuade yourself
that you have an interesting message, one which your audience wants to hear,
and that you’re the right person to present it.
• Use counter-conditioning. You should train yourself to perform another
“behavior” to replace the one you want to change. This is called “counter-
conditioning” and it's very effective. In the case of annoying filters, you would
teach yourself to:
♦ Pause at the beginning of each new thought or every two or three
sentences.
♦ Focus on the purpose of that thought, and speak only when you’re ready.
3. Success Guidelines
You can also avoid situations that may cause you to draw a blank or resort to “ah’s” and
“um’s” by following these guidelines: Use material you feel comfortable with.
Address audiences that feel “right” for you. Speak in situations where you feel
confident. And boost your chances for success through preparation and positive self-
talk. Also see “Talk is, like, you know, cheapened.” (Colleges introduce classes to clean
up campus “mallspeak”) by Kate Zernike, Boston Globe, 1-31-99; A1.
Delivery relates to the preacher-his face, gestures, and voice. These are called
nonverbal media of communication. The use of the face, gestures, and voice sometimes has
more impact than the content of what you have to say. Nonverbal media should be used
very skillfully and appropriately. Your body talks along with your mouth and there
needs to be parity between them.
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Your Face
People watch your face for how you feel about the sermon, yourself, and them. Eye
contact with your audience must be maintained as much as possible. Look directly at
your audience, pick some one on each side, and speak to this people, personally.
Your Gestures
Just like your face, your body talks. It will add to or subtract from your verbal
communication. There are three possible relationships between your body and your
words:
• Inaction: Your body is stifled or disabled.
• Overaction and wrong action: Your body becomes the main focus of the
audience’s attentions.
• Appropriate action: Be natural as you communicate and your gestures should give
the same message as your words. Your body language can effectively reinforce
your points: The pointing forger, the querying eyebrows, the wide arms, the
clenched fist, the open palms, and many others, if done naturally and at appropriate
places in your sermon, can be assets to your presentation. Your whole body is at
your disposal to enhance your verbal material.
Your Voice
The tone of your voice communicates more than the content of your talk. Use your voice
effectively. Find the appropriate pitch and quality and develop variety in speed and
volume.
• Pitch: Is your voice too deep or too high?
Do you vary your pitch?
Are you able to inflect your voice to communicate feelings such as
joy, urgency, command, or affirmation?
• Quality: Does your voice have a nasal sound?
Does your voice have a harsh sound?
Do you sound smooth and relaxed?
• Articulation and pronunciation: Do you speak clearly and carefully?
Do you pronounce words correctly?
• Speed or rate: Do you talk so fast that your audience can’t keep up?
Do you talk so slowly that they are bored?
Do you pause briefly on occasion?
Do you vary between fast, slow, and paused speech?
• Loudness or volume: Do you speak loudly enough so that everyone can hear
you without straining to do so?
Do you speak softly enough so that you don’t
bombard the listener?
Do you vary the volume?
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V. Haddon Robinson and “The Dress of Thought” (Chapter 9)
3 essentials
1. A Clear Style
• Clear Outline
• Short Sentences
• Simple Sentence Structure
• Simple Words
2. A Direct and Personal Style
3. A Vivid Style
• Communication that taps a listener's experience appeals to both mind and
feelings.
• A minister must appeal to the senses.
• A minister must learn to think in pictures; he must visualize details.
• Vividness increases when you employ fresh figures of speech.
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5. Eye Contact
• Eye contact ranks as the most effective single means of nonverbal communication
at a speaker’s disposal. Eyes communicate.
• Your people need to see your face.
6. Vocal Delivery
• The voice conveys ideas and feelings apart from words.
• A speaker emphasizes what he says in only four ways-by variety in pitch, punch,
progress, and pause.
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Appendix
I. Introduction
A sermon is not a sermon until it is preached, getting the message off the paper, into the pulpit
and out to the people. This involves an enthusiastic and challenging delivery, implementing
both nonverbal and verbal communication. Both are extremely important to the
effective contemporary biblical preacher.
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III. What are the aspects of verbal sermon delivery?
A. Content is more important than delivery, which is the vehicle that presents the
message.
B. 5 factors of delivered speech that enhance or detract from preaching:
1. Rate of speech-not too fast, not too slow, not too predictable.
2. Pauses-brief pause is for absorption; longer pause is for getting attention;
interim pause is for times of transition.
3. Pitch-the variation of the tones of speech.
4. Volume-a conversational, but dynamic, delivery is the most accepted
among contemporary audiences today.
5. Projection-“throwing the voice forward” using appropriate breathing
techniques.
V. Conclusion
Contemporary biblical preaching is a discipline of presenting balanced sermons that share the
whole message of God’s Word. It includes exposition, illustration and application ... in
order to bring the “then” into the “now.”
Preaching becomes a speech event between the “then” and “now,” and the Word that “was”
becomes the Word that “is.”
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Using&Your&Hands&In&
Messages&
http://www.speaking-tips.com/Articles/
Hand-Gestures.aspx
Gesture&Tips&
• Gestures: use
hands, arms,
shoulders, torso,
legs, feet or a
combination of
these.
• Hands are most
common
Hand&Gesture&Tips&
Appropriate hand
gestures aid more:
• Understanding
• Retention
• Emotion
• Depth
Hand&Gesture&Tips&
• Correctly used,
hand gestures
can help you say
more in less time
and show what
you mean without
having to resort to
visuals.
Things&to&Avoid&
• Practice in a mirror
or on a video.